Thursday, 12 July 2007

Eight plus eight - recycling tags!

Goodness gracious me! I have been tagged for two memes - 8 things (about my day) by Holler at Tinned Tomatoes and 8 random facts by Brooke from Bear Necessities. Now given that I have been under a bit of a blogger backlog, I thought Holler and Brooke might be forgiving if I was a little cheeky and combined my 8 things and 8 random facts - recycled tags, anyone?

I had decided to write about my Saturday which is fast receding into the background, but I spent time in Fitzroy and this gives me an opportunity to rave about it. So I have written 8 things about my day and then a random fact related to each thing:

1. Read i am alive and you are dead: a journey inside the mind of Philip K Dick: by emmanuel carrere in bed before I got up. I struggle to find time to read and so one of my luxuries is lying in bed on a weekday morning (oops - i mean weekend - and not every single weekend!). On occasions I have lain reading for hours. Once I get up I feel there are so many things to do, I don't do much reading, despite best intentions. Actually a lot of my reading is in bed, because I usually read at night if I have the energy.

2. Let the cat outside. E and I have recently been given an cat, Zinc (see photo), by a work colleague. I grew up with dogs and he grew up with cats. I am a dog-lover at heart but we don't have the space or time for one. Then Leah was looking for a home for her cat and I knew E would absolutely adore it so I am now a proud cat-owner. I have lived with a few cats and Zinc has a lovely nature. But she loves sleeping on my desk chair so my blogging these days often starts with pushing a cat off my chair so I can sit down!

3. Had a swim. As a child, we had a season ticket to the local outdoor pool which was 5 minutes walk around the corner and we spent hours there over summer - I tell my mum it was just so she could get us out of the house. These days, I struggle to find time but once I am in the pool I love it. A back problem last year convinced me it was not only pleasurable but was very good for me so I have a new motivation to try and have a swim each weekend.

4. Went to look at a new desk chair for E. The office furniture place had closed at 2 and we got there about 2pm. E was most displeased and told me that stores closing early on Saturdays is the reason the Australian economy is having problems. I didn't mind. It just gives me another reason to come back to Fitzroy (see picture of Brunswick Street on wintery Saturday). When I first moved into a student share house as a 19 year old, I lived in a blue terrace house in Fitzroy. It is an inner city suburb that has become very dez rez as the yuppies have moved in. When I lived there, it was just begining to take off but my grandmother was so concerned about me living in a street that had been full of gangsters and slums when she was young that I remember my father bringing her to visit to demonstrate it was quite respectable.

5. Had coffee and cake at The Commoner in Johnston Street, Fitzroy. Fitzroy has lots of great cafes and in the rain and gloom on Saturday, we saw this one which had warm cosing lighting. I think it might be new and would go there again. We sat by the bar and too much attention and too little light meant diminished photo opportunities so I wont be doing a separate entry on it. I always say I go for a coffee even though I don't drink it. But I am a sucker for cakes and we shared a baked cheesecake with a spiced plum topping that was very pleasing. I liked their shelves of cookbooks high above the bar and would have loved to have browsed among them.

6. Bought Animal Vegetable Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver at Brunswick Street Bookstore (also in Fitzroy). Thanks to Brooke from from Bear Necessities for alerting me to this book. When we lived in Edinburgh, E worked in a bookstore and brought home many proof copies of books. He has a great eye for an interesting book (or CD) and brought home so many fantastic reads. One of my very favourites was Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver. I just love the way she writes and can't wait to read my new book.

7. Number 7 has to be my pleasure at Saturday's date - 7/7/07. Twice as many Russians got married on Saturday as usually do according to a radio report I heard (and probably don't remember quite accurately) while stuck in peak hour traffic. I was excited about the date because it brings back memories of my primary school teacher telling us how special the date was on 7/7/77 and made us think of what we would be doing on 8/8/88. It seemed such a long way away, that I couldn't even imagine beyond 2000 to 7/7/07, 30 years later! Now I feel old.

8. I talked with four year old Lachlan about tomatoes. The discussion went like this. L - are tomatoes your favourite food? Me - no. L - why don't you like them? Me - I do like them. L - are they your favourite food? Me - no! You get the picture. I couldn't live without tomatoes but I can't eat them alone. Apart from tinned tomatoes in the cupboard for stews and pasta, I often have fresh tomatoes in my fridge for salads or to eat with cheese on a good sourdough bread.

And to pass the tag on, I tag Kathleen and Cindy and Michael for the 8 things about your day meme. I think the 'rules' say I should tag more people but - particularly as many of the bloggers I love visiting are already tagged recently, I think this is enough. Anyway, as I don't always follow recipes to the letter, I don't feel obliged to do so with memes either - aren't I such a rebel blogger :-)

Firstly, Zinc is gorgeous. Just gorgoeus and must be a lovely addition to your home. Your conversation with 4 year old Lachlan made me laugh heartily! Please tell me it was in indoor pool - I mean I like a good swim as much as the next person, but in mid-winter?!

Johanna - we really should meet for a coffee some day! (Can't find your email address...let me know if you'd like to...)

thanks Wendy - I hope you can come and visit Brunswick St one day - am sure you will love it!

thanks Lucy - I am pleased to say that I swim in an indoor pool - (a work colleague swims in an outdoor pool and tells me they closed half the pool the other day when it was foggy because the life guard couldn't see to the other side of the pool - crazy!) The outdoor pool I grew up with closed in winter, and I still shiver when I remember the chilly early mornings doing VicSwim lessons.summer. And yes, a coffee would be great - will email you (I guess I should put my email address on but I am still not sure which one!)

thanks Kathleen - but you know I only write about the nice things - you wouldn't have been jealous of my frustrating time in very very slow football traffic as I drove through the city on the dark rainy night! Some time you will have to visit and see our wee pussy cat - I am sure you will love her

Thanks Monika - if only I could have more weekends like that and to find more great recipes on your pages :-)

thanks Kleopatra - I can see you are a dog lover - you have all the enthusiasm of dogs - cats can be so snooty and standoffish sometimes - and that is very exciting this year to have your birthday fall on such a great date - I love patterns in dates!

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Recipes and reflections in which our vegetarian heroine dreams of being tall and graceful as a giraffe; being a goddess in the kitchen; and being gladdened by green gadgets, green food and green politics because green is the colour of hope. See About Me for more info.